These triumphal-arched chairs are embellished in the George II 'picturesque' fashion with reed-gadroons and Roman acanthus cartouches. Related 'French Chair' patterns, with serpentined crestings, were engraved by Matthias Darly in 1753 for Thomas Chippendale's Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, 1754, plate XVII. The latter, incorporating Chinese lattice-work in their frames, were to be upholstered in 'tapestry or needlework', and featured Chinese landscape scenes and flower-vases. The contemporary flowered needlework of these chairs features classical figures in ribbon-fretted medallions on the backs, while one seat displays a floral bouquet and the other a scene from Aesop's Fables or Fables de La Fontaine. One chair-back depicts the story of love-struck Apollo and the Daphne metamorphosing into a laurel tree, inspired by Ovid's Metamorphoses.
Myron C. Taylor (1874-1959), in 1932 succeeded J. P. Morgan Jr. as Chairman of the United States Steel Corporation. From 1939-1950, he was the Personal Representative of the President to Pope Pius XII, and until 1952, the Personal Representative of the President on Special Missions. He was concerned mainly with investigating religious and political situations in Europe and his extensive collection of early and mid-18th Century English and American Furniture, porcelain, silver, textiles, rugs, paintings & drawings was sold in a 3-day sale at Parke-Bernet Galleries in November 1960, while a remarkable group of Gothic and Renaissance furniture and sculpture, old master paintings, oriental carpets, ten Gothic tapestries and a group of French and Venetian 18th Century Furniture was sold on 11-12 November 1960, all of which had been removed from their residences at 16 East 70th Street and Killingworth, Locust Valley, Long Island.